[blacknile]

Hi,
 
just wondering if, from your experience, the jack from an integrated amp with 220ohm output impedance would drive these fine.
 
Thanks

 

[Brent Hutto]

It ought to work better on that model than just about any other headphone. Reasonably sensitivity plus real high (and tolerably flat) input impedance is a best case scenario. Doubt it'll sound real uniform and well damped but probably not terrible. My 300-ohm H650 sounds worlds better than a 50-ohm HD595 from similar headphone jacks.

 

[blacknile]

Hi thanks. Could you say something more about your HD595 out of the integrated jack? What did you feel was lacking? 

 

[Brent Hutto]

Anything with significant bass, or probably I should say mid-bass, was just a mess. The HD595 like a lot of Sennheiser headphones has an input impedance that varies in the neighborhood of a couple hundred Hz. That interacts with a high output impedance to make there be almost no damping of the headphone driver in that range and also to make the frequency response wildly different from one note to another, one instrument to another in the recording.

 

[blacknile]

What's the output impedance of a pc's headphone jack usually? I ask because my Alessandro MS-1 out of the integrated amp headphone jack sound slightly worse than when plugged in the pc jack. I find them bright and slightly distorted. I was just wondering whether the impedance mismatch (220 out - 32 in ) might be involved in this.

 

[blacknile]

Hi just to follow up on this.
 
I purchased the Beyerdynamic DT 880 600 ohm and they sound brilliant out my integrated amp jack. Very balanced, and miles ahead of anything else I've tried before.
 
Volume: no problems at all with this, they're actually *much* louder than what many posts on this site had led me to believe. The volume pot on my amp goes from 0 to 80. I use these comfortably between 18 and 25, depending on the loudness of the source.
 
As a comparison, my Audiotechnica ATH-M50 (32 ohm)  sound about equally loud between 16 and 23. My Alessandro MS-1 will need something between 20 and 30. This is to me a final proof that input impedance alone has nothing to do with volume.
 
As for the Beyerdynamic, they first thing I can report after a couple of days of listening is that they sound amazing out of the box (no perceived burnin effects) the highs are the sweetest I've heard and above all the dynamics are astounding. The variation in macrodynamics on orchestral music is unlike anything I've heard. Very satisfied about my purchase and won't be purchasing a dedicated amp anytime soon. I actually think the need of dedicated headphone amps is grossly exaggerated. 

 

[Brent Hutto]

That sounds awesome, 'nile. I think with 300-ohm and up headphones there are a lot of receivers, integrated amps and such that will work great. It's a lot tougher to find one that sounds great with 32-ohm or 50-ohm ones. Of course no matter what 'phones you use there is also some gear out there with really bad sound quality. Glad yours is one of the good ones.

 

[blacknile]

Cheers Brent not sure mine is good or bad in general, but it definitely works with these headphones. I don't seem to experience any of the defects associated with these (bright treble/rolled off bass), just a very cohesive and balanced sound. Plus, they're as comfortable as a pair of old slippers

 

[derbigpr]

Would you mind telling us which integrated amplifier you got?

 

[jpelg]

A headphone jack with high output impedance will have little, to no effect on FR of the 600-ohm Beyers. Should be fine. Enjoy.
 
Lower-impedance cans will be effected much more (which you may or may not like).

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

A headphone jack with high output impedance will have little, to no effect on FR of the 600-ohm Beyers. Should be fine. Enjoy.
 
Lower-impedance cans will be effected much more (which you may or may not like).

 
 
Do you have experience with any particular integrated amp and 600 ohm beyers?

 

[jpelg]

 
 
Do you have experience with any particular integrated amp and 600 ohm beyers?

 
My desktop headphone amp has both 0-ohm & 120-ohm outputs. I owned a pair of Manufaktur DT880/600-ohm headphones that displayed no sonic differences to my ears between the two outputs. This bears out some basic electric principles. 600-ohm dynamic headphones will be minimally affected by higher output impedance jacks.